Central tire inflation systems (CTIS) are well-known in the art. A CTIS allows for remote inflation and deflation of the vehicle tires from the vehicle cabin to adjust the tire pressure to suit the type of terrain, such as highway, country road, sandy/muddy, emergency, etc. Examples of a CTIS are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,836,261, 6,286,469, 6,145,559 and 4,418,737. It has been customary for some vehicles equipped with CTIS to connect the air power source inside the vehicle to the vehicle tires through various wheel-mounted valves, hoses and fittings, which are typically exposed on the outside face of the wheel. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,737. This arrangement has the potential to damage the exposed inflation components when the vehicle, such as a military truck, travel over off-road terrain. Further, the various wheel-mounted hoses and fittings contribute to some installation difficulty and cost.